In the world of manufacturing, efficiency is the single most effective parameter and KPI to measure the capabilities, competence, and expertise of an operator. 

An operator with higher efficiency manufactures more high quality products than an operator with lower efficiency in the same time period. When operators function at peak performance levels, the manufacturing cost of the factory goes down. 

Better operator performance also enables managers to interpret and boost the performance of their shop floor employees more effectively by identifying inefficiencies, enhancing the quality of training and data collection strategies, and scaling visibility into shop floor activities. 

Measuring and increasing the efficiency of operators and equipment on the shop floor turbocharges manufacturing productivity and output significantly. That being said, let us first explore the method used to calculate machine operator efficiency before we delve deeper! 

How to Calculate Machine Operator Efficiency? 

Overall labor effectiveness is an extremely useful manufacturing KPI that enables you to gauge the effectiveness of machine operators. 

Estimating operator efficiency involves consideration of several factors such as the time operators dedicate to work, the total number of parts that they build, and the overall quality of parts generated. 

Similar to OEE, there are three parts included in this formula: 

Availability: Total minutes of productive operator work / Total time allotted to work 

Performance: Total number of parts generated / Expected number of parts produced (based on average cycle times) 

Quality: Number of quality parts produced / Total number of parts produced 

Each of these variables is first calculated as a percentage, and the figures produced are multiplied together to determine a total percentage that represents Overall Labor Effectiveness.

Availability x Performance x Quality = Overall Labor Effectiveness

Strategies to Supercharge Operator Efficiency 

Now that you are equipped with a thorough understanding of what machine operator efficiency actually means, how to calculate it, and how it can enable manufacturers to make better decisions on the shop floor, let’s go about and explore strategies that you can leverage to enhance operator efficiency. 

Here, we list a number of solutions that allow your operators to deliver high quality parts on time:

1. Develop Accurate Standards of Work 

   By having accurate work standards, including jobs, set ups, and cycle times, you can gain a better overall understanding of the expected production performance that you can hold your operators accountable to. 

If you fail to establish  accurate work standards, you will struggle to analyze the performance of your operators. At Hakuna Matata, we can create personalized solutions that will enable you to collect and monitor data from machines, operators, and systems in real time. 

You can update your job standards to reflect any changes that you witness in this data. This allows you to uphold accurate performance benchmarks. 

2. Invest in Operator Training Programs 

  Make sure your operators read and understand their machine operation and maintenance manuals. Training your operators in simulators can also reduce fuel costs, cycle times, and machine wear and tear, while improving safety, and machine life. 

3. Increase Shop Floor Visibility 

  The main advantage of real-time data collection is that the information can be  accessed uniformly by all key stakeholders and employees across the organization, right from corporate management down to the machinists and operators on the shop floor. 

To enhance the performance of operators and maximize their potential, you must empower them with the necessary tools to drive better and faster decisions on a daily basis. This can be accomplished by utilizing dashboards across the shop floor, which can clearly indicate to operators about where they stand against production goals. 

In addition, these tools can also be used to easily identify problems such as unexpected machine breakdown and downtime events, to ensure that these problems can be efficiently and effortlessly. 

Manufacturers primarily leverage two different kinds of dashboards – shop floor dashboards and operator dashboards! 

4. Shop Floor Dashboards 

  Large monitors spread across the shop floor provide an overview of a particular cell and even the entire shop floor, displaying the status of each individual piece of equipment and benchmarking its performance against production goals. 

5. Operator Dashboards 

  Placed at each machine, the operator dashboard is quite simply a tablet that operators can use to manage their responsibilities in a harmonious way. They can have a close up view of their performance against production goals and document reasons for unplanned downtime and quality issues. 

                Read More: Reduce Manufacturing Waste Using Data

6. Automate Communication 

  Communication and the sharing of information is one of the most vital aspects of manufacturing success. Manual monitoring, siloed  systems, and cumbersome production meetings tend to exacerbate many problems that operators encounter on a daily basis. 

DFactori, Hakuna Matata’s futuristic shop floor solution helps streamline communication and automation, which turbocharges the performance of operators. 

Leveraging the tool, operators can easily inform their managers about problems that arise and even avail support from inventory managers, quality control teams, and maintenance personnel to resolve problems ahead of time.

7. Incentivize High Performance 

  Creating and implementing incentive programs based on operator performance is an excellent way to maintain high morale amongst your operators. At the end of the day, the performance of your operators on the shop floor is quite simply a reflection of their mental and emotional states. 

Keeping the spirits of your operators high and ensuring their well-being is paramount to achieving peak operator performance. While implementing such programs, do not compare operator performance against other operators, but rather benchmark their performance against expected standards. 

This way, operators do not get burdened buy unrealistic expectations but rather feel valued for the unique capabilities that they bring to the table and strive to reach their full potential. 

Celebrate the little wins and reward your operators anytime they exceed expectations. Incentive programs can inspire operators to hold themselves accountable for both the success and failure of their manufacturing enterprise.

In a Nutshell

We wish to conclude this blog by saying just one thing: Take care of your operators and they will in turn ensure the success of your manufacturing company. You can deploy the best production practices, use futuristic machines, digitally transform your shop floor and infuse intelligence into every aspect of the production process and still fail to meet desired production standards if your operators do not perform at their best. 

Fundamentally, it is people who build an organization and the growth of your production depends on how well your operators evolve and upskill to meet changing customer demands. If you’re looking to harness the power of a cutting edge shop floor automation solution to revolutionize both operator and production performance, DFactori is your best bet! 

Look no further and schedule a free consultation with our experts right away! Together, let us advance into the future of intelligent manufacturing and create powerful waves of disruption that will transform the world.